Michael Scofield from Prision Break has hypothalamic hamartoma as his mother, who they think died from that in age of 30 (as I remember). It's a hereditary disease. In later seasons we see his mother alive. She just left them to work in secret organization.

But if his mother didn't die from that hereditary disease, how he got it then?

1 Answer
1

Yes, Michael Scofield had the same thing as his mother and his mother did not die because she had the experimental procedure done on her that was developed by The company and it was successful on her.
But when Michael had undergone the same procedure he wasn't completely cured. This may be because of two reasons:
1. The company wanted him to do something for them and just as a insurance they had not cured him completely on purpose.
2. Michael's condition was beyond saving

And as for it being a hypnosis technique, there has not been a mention of the illness as a hypnosis thus it wouldn't be fair for us to assume it.